Review: The Beauty of being Hated by Jade Leaf Willetts

Jade Leaf Willetts is a U.K.-based writer, artist, and musician who just released his first poetry ebook titled, The Beauty of being Hated. It's a collection of 16 poems, beginning with the dark but hopeful "Suicide Cardigan," about the aftermath of a suicide attempt.

We are both still here You – with a pocket rippedthe other one zippedholding blades, pills -wool – catching red circleswhere the blood spillsand the screwed up noteI couldn’t sign

Most of Willetts' poems are about relationships and all of the poem-inspiring dynamics that accompany them.

"Rent" begins:

I cashed in my heartpawned my soulfor a small weight,a little piece of gold for this I had a place to stayan ongoing exchange,my skin for her bed

It finishes with a surprise twist.

I really like "Untitled," which concludes:

I have nothing
to give you,
but words,and a promise
that my love
will not becontained herein this room,in this time,in the hollow
of breath and bone.

"In the hollow of breath and bone." That, my friends, is a poetic turn of phrase

The title poem, "The beauty of being hated," is a contemplation of unrequited love, and, like "Suicide Cardigan," describes an unpleasant experience without wallowing in despair over it. Not all of the poems in this collection are about relationships per se (I say per se because, ultimately, what isn't about relationship?). One, for example, is about taking his first poetry class ("Dr Poetry"), and another is a wish about dying ("When I die").

If this wets your whistle for more of Willett's poetry - and I hope it does because his poetry is strong and deserves an audience - you can buy his book by clicking here. Faithful Daily Beat readers will remember a videotape of me reading one of Willetts' poems on February 4, 2012 (click here). That poem, "Wednesday Dad," isn't in this collection, but it will give you an idea of his skill with a poem.

More on Willetts' can be found at his blog, "What would Neal do?", which features the classic photo of our hero Jack Kerouac with his arm around Neal Cassady. You can view some of Willetts' artwork here.

To connect with Jade via social media, he is on Twitter as JLeafWilletts and on Facebook as Jade Leaf Willetts.

Do a fellow beat a solid and check out Jade Leaf Willetts' new poetry ebook, The Beauty of being Hated. It would be $.99 well-spent.